A/N: Why hello readers, and welcome to the first chapter of part 3 of Perfectionism! The story has now moved into the KH2 timeline, which means this fic is now 2/3 of the way done-I can't believe it, and yet I can't wait to write more, as KH2 is where a whole host of interesting things happen... Anyway, thanks goes out to Chibi for betaing, as always, and Armyx for bugging me about getting this done, as I know it's been a long time since I last updated Hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own KH, I just own my ideas.

Chapter 25-Fabrication

She had been the one to talk DiZ into fabricating the fake Twilight Town for Roxas. As much as Namine hated lies after everything she had been through, it was the least she could do-she had taken him away from both his friends, though she only remembered the second one in flashes she didn't really understand and soon forgot while wondering why she thought he had had a second best friend. She based the world on the snatches of memories she picked up from him while trying to disentangle Sora's memories from his own and the things she saw in the real Twilight Town, on top of the things she could coax out of Axel and pass off as random ideas she thought were good. He had met Hayner, Pence, and Olette before and they had been nice to him, so wouldn't they make good friends for him? She had seen some guy and a girl playing this game that involved two people hitting each other with bats, seemingly for points-Riku supplied the game's name and collected the rules, while she suggested a tournament for later. Or course, if he was a normal boy, he would have summer homework from school to go with all these wonderful things she was coming up with, Riku added, smiling smugly. She protested the idea, but DiZ put it in anyway.

She and Riku spent a lot of time together in the pod room with Sora when he wasn't off running errand after errand for DiZ. He had distanced himself from DiZ a lot, recently, though. He was growing tired of the errands, and the man was getting more and more out of hand. She would lay on her stomach on the floor, paper spread all around her, along with a jumble of crayons, and she drew while he talked, occasionally responding or stopping him to ask a question. He seemed to like talking about his past, going over the same details tirelessly, as though he was trying to assure himself that he was still the same person he used to be, even with his changed appearance and her own assurances that he was still the same Riku-he rarely took his hood off anymore, not even for her. It made her worry about him more than ever, and push herself even harder to finish piecing Sora's memories back together. If he had his best friend back, maybe his mental state would improve, because the Nobody of his other best friend obviously wasn't helping as much as she used to anymore, though helping her fabricate a life for Roxas distracted him for a while. When she wasn't in the pod room with Sora and Riku, she was working in the white room, where Axel still visited her, getting more and more desperate every day as the situation with the Organization and Roxas got more and more messy.

"Xemnas is in a frenzy, Namine. He is almost desperate to find Roxas-whether or not he's alive or dead doesn't matter anymore because he's still sure there are other keys out there and they will finish the job Roxas started, Namine!" he had ranted one day, and papers had flown everywhere when he slammed his hands against the table. She quietly watched them flutter to the floor before just as silently scooting her chair back and starting to pick them up.

"What are you going to do, Axel? Take on Riku and DiZ to take him back?" she asked softly, still looking at the papers on the floor. On the table, Axel's hands curled into fists on the table as he hung his head.

"...I don't know, Namine. I really don't know."

"So you just came to rant and throw my drawings everywhere?" she asked him. Axel shook his head and backed away from the table.

"No, sorry," the Nobody sighed as he crouched down on the opposite side of the table and began picking up stray drawings as well.

"...Well, I can't let him out, he does have to go back to Sora, but I might be able to show you how to get in to see him." Axel's head popped up in surprise to stare at Namine, whose head had not moved. Her eyes were focused on the papers scattered over the floor, which she hadn't stopped picking up.

"You're kidding me, right?" he asked in disbelief. Namine just continued to pick up papers.

"If you get caught by DiZ, though, it has nothing to do with me, understand?" Axel's jaw nearly fell off. Was she really saying what he thought she was? Offering him what he thought she was offering him? "Gotta put on a good show, right? Besides, I owe you. For telling me to go."

"You had nothing to do with it if I get caught. Got it memorized," Axel said quietly. For the first time since she had started picking up papers, Namine stopped and looked at him.

"It won't work unless Riku helps, though."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Axel sputtered in pure surprise. Namine only smiled and shook her head at him.

"He knows how to work the computers, and someone has to keep DiZ busy. Riku has to help, otherwise it won't work," Namine insisted. When Axel looked at her like a madwoman, Namine sighed. "He's just as much a victim here as any of us, Axel. He doesn't like DiZ, and he just wants his best friend back...is that so bad a thing to want, Axel?" When he didn't answer, Namine spoke up again. "Is it?"

Axel stood back up with the papers he'd picked up in hand and placed them on the table. "No, I guess it isn't," he murmured.

"I thought so," she replied as the sound if steps made themselves heard in the hallway. When Riku opened the door, Axel was long gone, but Namine was not. She sat on top of the white table, something she'd never done before, looking over the crayon-covered papers in her leave. When she looked up, she smiled nervously at him and spoke up.

"Riku, I have a really big favor to ask you."

A/N: And that's it for this update! As it is summer, I'm not sure when I'll update again, but don't worry-this fic will be come to a conclusion eventually. XD